Obama’s Stem Cell Irony
On the Borderline, notes the sick twisted irony of President Barack Obama’s stem cell message earlier this week.
“Promoting science is about letting scientists like those here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it’s inconvenient – especially when it’s inconvenient.”
Right, now clearly every Austrian is jumping up and down saying, “that’s it you buffoon … How can someone so intelligent be so incredibly obtuse!”
Of course, the Austrian point wouldn’t be to dump federal money into research institutions, but to allow the market to sort out our current economic troubles, even when it’s inconvenient.
As Hazlitt demonstrates, it is rather ‘inconvenient’ for the politician to perform economics appropriately. For to do that, he must look not just at the immediate effects of his policy, but also the long term effects. He must review not just how this policy will affect one group, but he must look at its effects on all groups.
If politicians were to do this, the answer would likely be quite ‘inconvenient.’ Much as it is, apparently, terribly inconvenient to apply one principle to multiple situations.
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